Out of state permission??

[Rich M]

I guess I made the wrong assumptions.
I know some guys form GA & SC who hunt IL and they can't get any good deer there either so I figured the deer were smart. Guess it must be the guys... I've known a guy who's been at it for 3 years and aint got a big one yet but has photos.

FL deer are like ghosts most of the time, makes GA deer easy for me - sit still and they will come, fidget and you'll see squat.

Used to hunt SC, CT, VT, a bit and did okay. That's the level of skittish I was accustomed to - draw a bow at the wrong time and they run away. In FL they tolerate very little disturbance.

My nephew wants me to come hunt public land w him in KS. If they really are dense and slow-witted, might be a good opportunity.

 

[Mwilson]

I guess I made the wrong assumptions.
I know some guys form GA & SC who hunt IL and they can't get any good deer there either so I figured the deer were smart. Guess it must be the guys... I've known a guy who's been at it for 3 years and aint got a big one yet but has photos.

FL deer are like ghosts most of the time, makes GA deer easy for me - sit still and they will come, fidget and you'll see squat.

Used to hunt SC, CT, VT, a bit and did okay. That's the level of skittish I was accustomed to - draw a bow at the wrong time and they run away. In FL they tolerate very little disturbance.

My nephew wants me to come hunt public land w him in KS. If they really are dense and slow-witted, might be a good opportunity.

The Georgia deer are smart as I’ve ever seen. Getting them in range is easy-ish haha getting a bow shot is not all the time

 

[bdg848]

Opening weekend of Iowa gun season on public land is a zoo. Imagine seeing 10 trucks at the trail head out west but instead of having thousands and thousands of acres to spread out in, you have 1 square mile that is only 50% timbered. My suggestion is to go in archery season you will see a lot less pressure.

 

[SneakyThunderCat]

Opening weekend of Iowa gun season on public land is a zoo. Imagine seeing 10 trucks at the trail head out west but instead of having thousands and thousands of acres to spread out in, you have 1 square mile that is only 50% timbered. My suggestion is to go in archery season you will see a lot less pressure.

Spot on ^^

Hunt weekdays and you wont have to deal with as much pressure, unless you're hunting during the rut. Focus on smaller areas of public that are looked over and less appealing to the average hunter. Use the pressure to your advantage, mature public land bucks don't grow old from being dumb!

 

[Tom_]

You'll laugh but Craigslist has worked for me. I've posted ads seeking short term hunting permission. You'll get some crazy responses but every now and then, you find a gem. Wish it worked better here in Maryland but I've had luck in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and West Virginia. Some were free, all were cheaper than what I pay in Maryland.

 

[T3clay]

Not my experience at all with Illinois and Missouri deer. Dumb as bricks compared to the Texas whitetails I grew up hunting. This is just based on my own experience of chasing both for many years. As they say, YMMV but I can tell you I got away with things in Illinois and Missouri that I never, ever got away with in Texas. Multiple times. Folks up there may want to believe their deer are skittish, but I'd disagree based on my experience. Deer in those areas of the midwest remind me of mule deer. Stand there and stare at you while you shoot them. Crazy.

If your deer are that skiddish then they are for a reason. deer in Texas are not skiddish because they live in Texas...... I have spent a fair amount of time in tress stands in Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin and see no difference....

im not saying you have not had a different experience, but the difference your seeing is based on something other than the state your hunting.

 

[Mwilson]

If your deer are that skiddish then they are for a reason. deer in Texas are not skiddish because they live in Texas...... I have spent a fair amount of time in tress stands in Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin and see no difference....

im not saying you have not had a different experience, but the difference your seeing is based on something other than the state your hunting.

It’s the constant hunting pressure around me. They shoot anything that moves, and aren’t really, umm tactical or methodical. Is just see, shoot, repeat. Hard to get big deer due to pressure


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[Newtosavage]

No offense to Iowans, but I would never go to Io

If your deer are that skiddish then they are for a reason. deer in Texas are not skiddish because they live in Texas...... I have spent a fair amount of time in tress stands in Texas, Minnesota and Wisconsin and see no difference....

im not saying you have not had a different experience, but the difference your seeing is based on something other than the state your hunting.

The Texas deer season is 4 months long, non-stop. In Illinois, if you didn't hunt with a bow, you were limited to about 9 days/year. Maybe 12. I think that has a lot to do with it.

Illinois deer also die a lot easier than Texas whitetails. I've had good hits on Texas whitetails (double lung) that resulted in 400+ yard tracking jobs. More than once. I shot 11 deer in Illinois with my bow while I lived there, almost all with a 50# recurve, and many of them were over 200 lbs. None of them went more than 100 yards and most went down in sight.

I can't explain the difference, but there is one without a doubt. After hunting Illinois and SE Missouri for 6 seasons, I realized why so many hunting shows are filmed there. How many times have you seen them "stop" an Illinois deer with a grunt, only to have it stare at them while they shoot it? Try that in Texas and you can forget it. No way that happens where I grew up hunting. You had better learn to shoot them walking.

 

[Dos Perros]

I live in Kansas and married into thousands of acres and I still hunt the public exclusively.

 

[Newtosavage]

I live in Kansas and married into thousands of acres and I still hunt the public exclusively.

Probably less stressful that way. LOL

 

[FLS]

It’s an uphill battle. If the land is worth hunting there is family, locals, and folks willing to pay for the opportunity in front of you. My experience is if they give you permission, they give everyone permission. The place gets used and abused. Not the hunt I’m going to drive halfway across the country for.

 

[Clandefeld]

Lived in ohio my whole life and bow season pressure gets worse every year. I miss 1990s when no one bowhunted! Hunt mostly private, mine, parents, friends neighbors. Lost several spots to leases, drives me nuts, but not sure how else an out of state hunter gets access. I would think asking random people is not gonna work. Out of state hunting we have done is through friends.